Meeting This Saturday

TAPT, 

Just a quick reminder. We are meeting this coming Saturday, April 9th, at J.D. Garcia’s house for breakfast and a talk everyone in the world is interested in.  Dr. Eduardo Rozo will talk about dark energy, and the recent LIGO results. Here is his description: 

Understanding Dark Energy, or How to Blow the Universe Apart

Gravity pulls.  However, when it comes to the Universe as a whole, the data is unequivocal.  Gravity is blowing up the Universe, making it expand faster and faster.  I will discuss the evidence for dark energy, and the ongoing experiments designed to help us understand how this may be happening.  I will finish by briefly discussing the recent LIGO results, and the implications of these results for dark energy studies.

Please join us for potluck breakfast at 8:30 am. We aim to end by about 10:30. Directions to J.D.’s house are attached [use the Contact form on the right for directions]. All are welcome, new members and old.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Karie

UA Professor on the Radio Tomorrow and other News

TAPT,

 Some news from J.D.: U of A Physics Assistant Professor Sam Gralla will by on the noon newscast on AZPM, tomorrow, March 25, talking about gravitational waves and his work. A longer version is also available online: https://radio.azpm.org/arizonascience/

Registration is open for the Tucson Modeling Physics Mechanics Workshop. A flyer is attached. Cost will be $250. The workshop is partially supported by a Pima Community College grant through our STEM HSI initiative. I am attaching a flyer with all the information, including a link to sign up. Any questions, please email me.

We are meeting at J.D. Garcia’s house on Saturday, April 9, to hear a timely talk on dark energy and gravitational waves. Our speaker is Eduardo Rozo. Here is his abstract: 

Understanding Dark Energy, or How to Blow the Universe Apart

 Gravity pulls.  However, when it comes to the Universe as a whole, the data is unequivocal.  Gravity is blowing up the Universe, making it expand faster and faster.  I will discuss the evidence for dark energy, and the ongoing experiments designed to help us understand how this may be happening.  I will finish by briefly discussing the recent LIGO results, and the implications of these results for dark energy studies.

 We’ll meet as usual at 8:30 am for potluck breakfast, coffee and physics. I’ll send directions in a week or so. Plan to join us – everyone welcome. Bring a friend or colleague.

 Hope to see you soon!

Karie

Next Meeting: Dark Energy and LIGO

TAPT,

We have an exciting talk lined up for Saturday, April 9th, the date of our next meeting. Professor Eduardo Rozo, new faculty in the Physics Department, will speak about Dark Energy AND LIGO! Yikes! Don't miss it.

Here is Dr. Rozo's description: 

Understanding Dark Energy, or How to Blow the Universe Apart

Gravity pulls.  However, when it comes to the Universe as a whole, the data is unequivocal.  Gravity is blowing up the Universe, making it expand faster and faster.  I will discuss the evidence for dark energy, and the ongoing experiments designed to help us understand how this may be happening.  I will finish by briefly discussing the recent LIGO results, and the implications of these results for dark energy studies.

Our meeting will follow the usual format, potluck breakfast at 8:30 am, talk shortly after. We are debating about moving the meeting to the University. If you have a chance, drop me a line to let me know if you are attending. If the meeting will be small, we'll meet at J.D.s, if large, J.D. will get us a room at the U. 

Thanks in advance for letting me know,

Karie

Karie Meyers, Ph.D.

Notes From Last Meeting and Upcoming Dates

TAPT-ers,

There is a Star Party this Saturday, Feb. 13, all day at Pima Community College East Campus, sponsored by Astronomy Magazine and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association.  Look here for details

http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2016/01/18/come-enjoy-the-2016-tucson-star-party.aspx

Some notes from our last meeting: It was awesome! Jim Housley came to the meeting and gave away a bunch of great stuff – he brought a suitcase just for us. (I’ll plug Southwest Airlines here – two free bags.) Also, if there are things you need that his company, Transparent Devices, manufactures, you can email him (jmhousley@aol.com) or me and he will send them to you. He is happy to supply free stuff to us, as he has some amount of overstock and scratch-and-dent, and has been able to absorb the shipping cost so far. While he was here, Jim visited Mark Stockwell’s school, and Allison Lemons’s school. He is always happy to see what people are doing and what devices would be useful. Jim is hoping to give over some of his manufacturing responsibilities to a couple of young engineers, so hopefully he will have more travel time and fewer headaches.

Some Physics Factory News: There is a new physics bus! It’s going to be great. Kip Perkins and Bruce Bayly and Dolly Spalding were all at the meeting representing. Kip is especially looking for demos that would interest middle school students. Kip is driving the original physics bus back to Cornell via the Little Shop of Physics at CSU in Fort Collins. You might have heard of Brian Jones, who is a CSU physics professor and runs the Little Shop. Very inspirational.

Some quotes from the meeting: “Things should be beautiful as well as educational.” That’s Jim’s philosophy for physics demonstration and lab equipment. “Human nature is not factored into education.” Basically, the point was that having attractive things makes students want to learn about them. From Fritz: “The nice thing about Russian mathematics is that they think about physics and mathematics as the same thing.” 

Fritz’s books: Lots of math: Vladimeer Arnold, Mathematical Understanding of Nature.

Aleksandrov et al.,  Mathematics, Its Content, Methods and Meaning, apparently three volumes in one. Everyone who had read them agreed that these two books are great.

Bruce’s mother was featured in an article in the Daily Star. She is a champion athlete. Look for Helen Bayly.

Richard also brought a book about nothing, called the Zero.

J. D. had just returned from an advisory committee meeting at the APS. He filled us in on the URM Bridge program, very successful. Also LIGO will have an announcement February 11^th, and CERN will have an announcement soon. Lots to look forward to.

We don’t have a next meeting planned. The AzAAPT meets April 16^th in Prescott at Embry Riddle University. I am trying for an early April AAPT meeting, but the speaker is TBA. I will keep everyone informed.

There will be a Modeling Workshop at PCC West Campus, in our new labs in June, from June 13 – July 1. Here is a link with the latest information: http://www.phystec.org/pd/detail.cfm?ID=6432. I hope you will all consider attending. It changed my teaching. I have a great teacher from Phoenix lined up. I think a PCC grant will cover some of the costs and it will be offered at a reduced rate to teachers. Right now, that rate looks like it will be about $200, which will include an AMTA membership and some other goodies, as well as about 90 or so hours of professional development credit. It will also help teachers prepare to teach physics, so if you know someone who has been wanting to teach physics, this is the way to start.

March 12, as part of the Festival of Books, all U of A physics labs will be open for touring. This is a great opportunity for students to see what is going on at the U. 

See you soon,

Karie

Meeting This Saturday

TAPT,

We are meeting this Saturday, February 6. We’ll meet at J.D. Garcia’s house at 8:30 am for potluck breakfast. We will host friend of TAPT Jim Housley, who will be visiting from Alaska. Jim is interested in talking with the group about demonstrations and things you might like in your classroom. Also, if you can host Jim in your class this week, email him at jmhousley@aol.com. 

So, for the meeting, think about bringing a favorite demo or question about what kind of demo or lab would be best for a subject you are working on. 

Also, I want to remind everyone on the list that I will be hosting a Modeling Workshop at Pima West Campus this June, from Monday, June 13, through Friday, July 1, 2016. I’m working on some funding sources for the workshop, and I think the cost for teachers will be pretty reasonable. I have a great teacher lined up, who has taught many Modeling workshops. So, if this is something you are interested in, please put it on your calendar. If you know a teacher who wants to teach physics, please mention it to him or her. It’s a great training, and helps to prepare teachers for to teach physics. Recertification hours will be available, they should add up to about 100 hours. 

Hope to see everyone Saturday.

Karie

Notes From Last Meeting + Upcoming Dates

TAPT,

Here are some notes from our last meeting.

We agreed to meet on February 6^th at J.D.’s house so that we can see Jim Housley. Jim is a friend of TAPT from Alaska, where he is retired from physics teachers, and where he manufactures and develops physics demonstration equipment.  Jim is interested in visiting some classrooms, so if you are able to host him during the week, he would appreciate it. You can contact him atjmhousley@aol.com if you have a time that he can visit your classroom. He is especially interested in physics and physical science. I think he will be here for most of the week after February 6^th, but am not sure of his travel dates.

The next meeting date after Feb. 6 is TBA – we are working on a speaker for early April.

The Festival of Books is March 12, and on that day all of the physics labs at the University are open to visitors. It’s a good day for your students to see all of the cool stuff going on there.

The Arizona section of the AAPT meets April 16^th in Prescott at Embry-Riddle University.

There is a transit of Mercury on May 9 at 6:00am – 11:45. Chris Ubing is making his astronomy students come to see it as part of his final. I think we can go too, or maybe there will be some telescopes available closer to home. It’s a Monday, so I guess it would be a school day.

We will have our end-of-the-year party on May 14th. 

I showed some of Derrick Muller’s videos from Veritassium. He was one of the speakers at the recent AAPT meeting in New Orleans.

A website that is useful for contextual problems is: http://groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/materials.html

Fritz had been sick and had too much time to read, and he brought way too many books, but here’s a list.

The Evolution of Everything, by Matt Ridley. The title says it all.

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, by Steven Greenblatt. It sounds great.

The Nature of Things, by Lucretius. I think this is an old one.

Wolfram Language, by Stephen Wolfram. It’s a tutorial. Several people tried to steal this at the meeting.

How to Read a Page, by I.A. Richards. Something about 100 important words.

Thing Explainer, by Randall Monroe, author of xkcd and everyone’s favorite, who also explains things in simple words in this book.

Thhe Invention of Science by David Woolton. A history of the scientific revolution.

Fritz’s illness is hard on us all. Way too much to read.

Dave Katz was nice enough to summarize his knowledge of the gem show. I have attached his hints and advice.

Next meeting: February 6^th at J.D.’s house, 8:30 am. Hope to see everyone there.

Best,

Karie

Meeting Reminder

Just a quick reminder - we meet Saturday, Jan. 23, at 8:30 am at J.D. Garcia’s house, directions attached [use the contact form on this blog if you need directions]. Bring a breakfast item if you can, if it’s not convenient, don’t worry about it. We’ll have coffee and something for everyone. No agenda, except: Set our semester meetings and activities, show off your holiday physics-related gifts, and I’ll give a rundown of the most recent AAPT meeting. Keep a couple of possible activities in mind: We could meet again in two weeks, February 6th, and host TAPT friend Jim Housley, who has generously donated lots of equipment to Tucson teachers - he’ll be in town for the gem show. Also, we want to consider arranging a trip to the TAAA observing site in the Chiricahua mountains. It would be an overnight observing trip for teachers. So we will need to consider dates.

Hope to see you there,

Karie